{"id":1142706,"date":"2021-12-22T15:34:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T20:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1142706"},"modified":"2021-12-22T15:34:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T20:34:39","slug":"report-republican-sen-john-thune-weighs-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-republican-sen-john-thune-weighs-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Republican Sen. John Thune Weighs Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-republican-sen-john-thune-weighs-retirement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1142706&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Senate Republican Whip Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the second-ranking Republican&nbsp;and likely successor to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is considering standing down.<\/p>\n<p>Thune has debated giving up his Senate seat due to a combination of \u201cfamily concerns,\u201d and the \u201cgrip\u201d former President Donald Trump has on the party, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/12\/21\/us\/politics\/john-thune-senate-retirement.html\">report<\/a> from the&nbsp;<em>New York Times.<\/em> Thune is up for reelection next year and has reportedly been telling \u201cassociates and reporters in his home state that 2022 could be his last year in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The senator said he would figure out his intentions over the holidays, but many friends and Senate colleagues believe he is serious about retiring. The&nbsp;<em>Times<\/em>&nbsp;said his decision has \u201cset off an intensifying private campaign from other Republicans urging him to seek re-election.\u201d Senators trying to convince him to stay: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and McConnell.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">\u201cI certainly hope that he will run for re-election, and that\u2019s certainly what I and others have been encouraging him to do all year long,\u201d Mr. McConnell said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Cramer, who has known Thune since they were both&nbsp;executive directors of their respective state parties, said, \u201cI let him know how much I appreciate him\u2026 He knows both Dakotas really need him.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19224618\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1237251362.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19224618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1237251362-682x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) looks on after asking a question during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation oversight hearing on Capitol Hill on December 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Tom Brenner-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">When Thune has spoken about his family and running again in the past, he has that would mean he would have to commute from his home state to Washington, DC, for \u201cat least six more years.\u201d He once told a reporter that&nbsp;Kimberley Thune, his wife, \u201cis done with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Thune\u2019s frustration with the Republican party and Trump, the<em>&nbsp;Times<\/em> added:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">The senator\u2019s departure would represent yet another exit, perhaps the most revealing one yet, by a mainstream Senate Republican who has grown frustrated with the capital\u2019s political environment and the former president\u2019s loyalty demands. The exodus began in 2018 with Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker retiring rather than facing primaries, and has accelerated this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Part of Mr. Thune\u2019s hesitation owes to Mr. Trump and the potential for the former president \u2014 who <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/trump-slams-thune-for-criticizing-house-gop-election-overthrow-efforts-2020-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lashed out at Mr. Thune<\/a> early this year when the senator rejected his attempts to overturn the election \u2014 to intervene in South Dakota\u2019s Senate primary race. But the larger factor may be the longer-range prospect of taking over the Senate Republican caucus with Mr. Trump still in the wings or as the party\u2019s standard-bearer in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">[\u2026]\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Two top Senate Republican allies of Mr. Trump said he would probably refrain from targeting Mr. Thune simply because the senator, who is popular at home and has a well-stocked campaign war chest, is unlikely to lose a primary in the state that first elected him to Congress in 1996.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Thune has reportedly refrained from deciding on reelection to \u201climit the window\u201d of time Trump or a competitor would have before the primary, which is set to take place in June.<\/p>\n<p><i>Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacobmbliss\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Republican Whip Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the second-ranking Republican\u00a0and likely successor to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is considering standing down. Thune has debated giving up his Senate seat &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}